GYCOSAMINGLYCAN GLYCOFORM ANALYSIS IN MODEL ORGANISMS: C. ELEGANS
The soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has a short life-cycle and provides an important model for the study of glycan functions in a high throughput fashion. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are essential for growth and development. For example, chondroitin sulfate (CS) is indispensable for cytokinesis in C. elegans and heparan sulfate (HS) is required for neuronal migration and axon outgrowth. Although many genetic and biochemical studies have demonstrated the functional roles of CS and HS in C. elegans, more detailed knowledge has been limited by lack of methods for determining GAG structure. To date, much of the structural information has been limited to disaccharide compositions inferred using chromatography with fluorometric detection. This project entails glycan preparation and application of an LC/MS platform for analyzing the structure of C. elegans GAGs.
